WHAT CHRIST ARE YOU LOOKING FOR THIS CHRISTMAS PART TWO

 

John 1:1-18

 

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.” These were the famous words by Friedrich Nietzsche when he wrote his book “The Gay Science”. What I find disturbing and sad is that these words still echo the streets of our community and cites around the globe today! To this present world God is dead and they are quite content in that ignorance. Sigmund Freud said “When a man is freed of religion, he has a better chance to live a normal and wholesome life.” Voltaire wrote, “God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.” Actor Woody Allen, “If it turns out that there is a God, I don't think that he's evil. But the worst that you can say about him is that basically he's an underachiever.” So-called comedian Sarah Silverman said in one of her comedy shows “Jesus Is Magic”, ‘I’m glad the Jews killed Jesus. I’d do it again!” To know that there are people out there [many] who think God is a joke, a fake, a liar and a made up story for the weak is really sad. This portion of John’s gospel reminds me of a story I came across this week. “A poor family was farming some land during the depression. There was one son in the family and the parents wanted the best for him. They scrimped and saved so they could send him to college. After he has gone for a year or so, his parents, who loved him very much longed to see him again. They sold some things, saved their meager income and went to visit their boy. When they arrived on campus, poorly dressed in their simple and plain farm clothes they spotted their son with some other boys. The father ran to him and called out, “Son, son it’s your father.” The boy looked at his dad with no sign of recognition. The father repeated his words. “Son, it’s your father and mother. We’ve come to see you.” The boy no doubt embarrassed by his parents’ poverty turned to the other students and said, “I don’t know who this is. He must be crazy.” As a parent this story is horrible but it’s nothing compared to the ultimate rejection The Christ faced when He came in His humiliation.

HE WAS LIGHT REJECTED BY MANY (v10-v11)

 

Sadly, majority of mankind rejected the true Light, because (v5 ) concludes, “darkness as not over overcome it.” Or better “has not understood it, or “over power it.” This means the Light was met with great resistance. Think about this! The One who said “Let there be light” is the one mankind rejects more than anything. [v11] we read these painful words, “He came to his own people, and even they rejected Him.” Jesus Christ is rejected on a daily basis by this culture and even in the church, if He isn’t the One you’re seeking. I read this rejection and I’m reminded of what Jesus said in Mark’s gospel! “And he began to speak to them in parables." A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this Scripture: " The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?" Mark 12:1-11. Sadly this is continuing to happen even after what Jesus accomplished through His death, resurrection and Ascension.

  

Where has God been rejected? Usually the first thing that comes to mind is Government Funded Facilities. How about our homes? The Family was instructed by God to obey the commands given in Deut 5 and 6. Moses wrote, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deut 6:4-9

 

How about your own personal lives? How about when things are going well or comfortable? How about when finances are good? How about when were in good health? How about when our marriage is relatively peaceful and happy? How about when our children are all grown up? We tend to put God on the back burner when things are going well. When we have enough money in the bank. When our health seem good. When our marriage is doing fine. When our children are gone. Sadly sometimes the only time you and I don’t reject God is when all these things are falling apart and our lives are a mess! This is when we seek the Christ to fix our longings, heartaches and world. This should never be in happening in our lives……but it does and when this happens we’re no different than the people that John writes about.

 

Why was Jesus rejected in His time? When you look at the cults of this world they all have one major thing in common They reject Jesus for who he claimed to be and was “the God man.” Rejection is a harsh word…. because it almost has the same feel, or meaning as hate. Rejection……….. By definition is “The act of throwing away; the act of casting off or forsaking; it’s a refusal to accept or grant.” What’s amazing is that Jesus knew from eternity past that this created world, even His kinsmen would reject Him. Don’t you find it amazing that the angels went to common men to proclaim the good news of the Saviour’s birth and not the religious elites? Or the ruling government? Why? He knows the hearts of those who reject the Gospel and the hearts that are drawn to the Gospel. What’s amazing until your salvation God knew you would reject Him as well. This why you get mixed emotions about this passage ……. Why won’t the world listen to the good news? Why didn’t the Jews embrace the Messiah? 

The Old Testament records the nation’s rejection, despite the clear testimony of those who proclaimed this promise. Moses wrote, “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.” Deut 10:16. In 2 Kings 17:24 it says, “But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God.” Nehemiah 9:29 we read, “And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey.” Jeremiah warned them of their rejection, “Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.” Jer 7:26. Sadly we continue see this progression throughout the Old Testament into the New….a complete disregard or rejection of the Incarnate Christ. The same thing is happening today! Families, marriages, children, churches, nations are rejecting the true God of the Bible, for a substitute to appease their own conscience! Or worse! They love their sin and do not want it exposed….we call this willful blindness and complete ignorance to their desperate need of saving grace.

 

What are some of the consequences

of rejecting God?

 

LEADS PEOPLE TO FOLLOW THEIR OWN DEVICES. “for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” Jer 2:13

 

LEADS PEOPLE TO PUTTING THEIR TRUST IN MAN. “Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD.” Jer 17:5

 

PROVOKES GOD TO FORSAKE MEN & WOMEN. “Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more.” Judges 10:13

PUNISHMENT WILL BE SEVERE FOR THE UNREGENERATE. “For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Heb 10:30-31

 

IT ENDS IN ETERNAL SEPARATION FROM HIS ETERNAL GRACE AND MERCY. “in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,” 2 Thess 1:8-9

 

This world is heading into the path of despair and sorrow for all eternity. All because they would not recognize the One who created them. This is what the Light exposes in the heart of the sinners.

 

HE IS THE LIGHT REVEALED (v4-v5)

 

Jesus was demonstrating that He was and is the source of life. In His humanity he was our guide, King and instructor…..sacrifice for redemption Psalm 36:9 says, “For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.” Jesus said this at the beginning of His High Priestly prayer, “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.” John 17:1-7

 

When the lights are turned on in a dirty, run down unoccupied house it displays the ugliness and dirtiness of the room. The same is true of the heart. The Incarnate Christ turns exposes our hearts to the ugliness of our own sin. See the natural man wants to flee from the light as a cockroach or the rat flees when the lights are turned on in a room. The same is true when the unregenerate sinner who loves there sin is exposed to the gospel. This light reaches the deepest parts of the soul.

 

One of the saddest examples is when sin entered in the heart of the first man and woman. What did they do? They hid themselves from His presence and tried to cover up their shame/guilt. The same rule applies to the unregenerate person who hides in the dark because they love there sin. The unregenerate man says “Go away and leave me alone” when their heart is exposed to the Gospel Light. While the regenerate man says “Lord please reveal my sin to me for I hate my sin that is ever present in my life.” See! Sin to the child of God is detestable….it taste like vomit in their mouth.

 

Does your sin taste that way?

Or does it taste good?

 

J C Ryle said “The greatest majority of mankind have neither understood, nor receive, nor laid upon the light offered to them by Christ.”

He is the eternal fountain of life, He has been and always

will be a constant shining light!

 

John wrote “light shines in darkness” literally means “shines continually”. This Light will continually shine in a world that refuses or rejects the idea of a Jesus or wanting a personal relationship with Him. This also means! Jesus continually assaults every corner of our hearts. But! The sad reality is that this Light will be met with sinfilled resistance and opposition. The eternal hope here is what John pens! This darkness cannot and will not “comprehend it” (v5). The sinner will not overcome or have victory over the Light, it only reveals the true heart of the man, as he/she is judged into eternal damnation. But here is the hope amongst darkness!

 

HE IS THE LIGHT RECEIVED (V12-V13)

 

There still is hope for others who hid in darkness as they are draw by the Light of His grace! [v12-v13]. The Incarnate Christ is the one who seeks, rescues, and saves, for all eternity. The Incarnate Christ is the one who calls sinners to Himself out of darkness and ignorance. The Incarnate Christ is the one who displayed the love of the Godhead by coming in His humiliation [taking on the form of a man]. Understand! If receiving eternal life is required by our performance, none of us would make it, as God’s standards require perfection.

No matter how hard we try…..

To be good enough only produces defeat.

 

Each and every one of us has sinned and fall short when measured by God’s standard of perfection. Paul states this reality, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Rom 3:23. [v13] reveals this is the sole work of God in our salvation. John writes, “who were born, not of blood [racial or ethnic heritage] nor of the will neither of the flesh [personal desire] nor of the will of man [man-made systems or by coercion].

But of God.

 

See there is nothing that we can do to in order to find or attain salvation! That’s the gift that blesses the heart. It’s not about working our way to Heaven on the scale of good works verses bad works. It’s not about serving/attending a church to find favour with God. It’s not about growing up in a Christian home where your parents or a sibling faith is faithful towards God. It’s not about your ability to attain salvation and keep yourself saved for eternity. It’s only by the overflowing grace of God unto sinners that anyone of us is saved. As John MacArthur said, “If a dying Savior could bring us to God’s grace, surely a living Savior can keep us in His grace.”

 

Martin Luther said “The sun is not dimmed and darkened by shining on so many people or by providing the entire world with its light and splendor. It retains its light intact. It loses nothing; it is immeasurable, perhaps able to illumine ten more worlds. I suppose that a hundred thousand candles can be ignited from one light, and still this light will not lose any of it's brilliance... Thus Christ our Lord, to whom we must flee and of whom we must ask all, is an endless well, the chief source of all grace... Even if the whole world were to drawn from this fountain enough grace and truth to transform all people into angels, still it would not lose as much as a drop. This fountain constantly overflows with sheer grace.”

Don’t overlook this truth with contempt or ignorance…… As the Jewish nation, as the religious elites, as the higher magistrates did then and more so today in most Canadian homes. Acknowledge the wonders of the Mystery found in the gospel of His Son.

 

What Christ are you seeking this Christmas? 

Is the one the world rejects? If so you’re in the right place.

 

We live and breathe Christ crucified and Christ resurrected. It’s this Christ we chase after every day and during the Christmas season, as we are reminded about the truth found in this one and only Light. God came to this earth as a man to save men and women from there sin by illuminating our heart to His forgiving grace. Don’t reject this greatest gift……because the consequences will be devastating in the end.

 

My prayer for the ones hiding in the dark is…

“Oh the greatness of Christ and His love. Receive it now if you

have not done so before.” (v12)

 

The cosmic Christ, the Eternal Creator, the Light that came, paid the penalty we all owe, bore the wrath of God, rose again, is now seated at the right of the Father. This is the Light John writes about in his gospel and the one John the Baptist proclaimed to a darkened and lost world. This is the One the true church seeks after as we await eternal life.

Seek this Christ, and no other.

Because all other christ’s are imposters.